The jade pendant connects the past and present; the exiled crown prince's wife takes her entire

Song Qingyan naturally saw what was happening on Zheng Qian's side. He was so focused on watching that he didn't even notice when Jiang Jinning returned.

"Has something happened, Brother Qingyan...?"

Song Qingyan's concentration was instantly shattered by the words "Brother Qingyan".

He was speechless for a moment, standing quietly in place, his eyes reflecting Jiang Jinning's petite figure, and instantly filled with astonished joy.

His usually composed and slightly aloof expression was now completely relaxed, a gentle light emanating from his brows, a tenderness he had never shown to anyone before, a tenderness that seemed capable of drowning one.

He slowly pulled up the corners of his mouth, and the smile that rose up somehow carried a hint of foolishness. Then, the smile on his lips gradually deepened, from faint to bright, without any concealment, and finally, it all turned into a heart full of pounding surprise.

The two seemed to stare at each other for a long time until Jiang Jinning, who spoke first, lowered her eyes shyly and tugged at her clothes awkwardly.

Not far away, Song Wanzhen, who was bored, happened to see this scene. Her eyes lit up and her beautiful eyebrows and eyes were full of smiles. If people from that place saw this, they would know that this is what is called an aunt's smile.

"No, stop looking at me... I should have called you Little General..."

Jiang Jinning blushed.

She didn't know what love was. Her birth mother died early, and no one told her what liking or loving meant. But before leaving today, she saw Liang Cheng's mother, who was holding a picture book in her hands. It was said to be the work of Liang Cheng's father, the only remaining object in the world that was deeply connected to her.

She held the picture book, her eyes always showing sadness, but even more so, a contented happiness.

She said, "This picture book is enough. The happy times we had are enough."

Jiang Jinning was stunned, and then thought, if one day the person she loved left, would she regret not having spent more time with them, or would she be content with having happy memories?

She was stunned. The one she loved?

Who is the person she loves? The love she loves is not the kind of love between family members, but the kind of love between a man and a woman.

She thought of the young general.

She realized with a start that she wanted to create happy memories with the young general, not to have nothing to show for it in the future, only regret.

Rough, calloused hands groped the back of Jiang Jinning's hand, itching and tingling, a feeling she had never experienced before.

Jiang Jinning felt very happy. She smiled broadly, still pure and innocent, but with a cheerfulness she had never shown before.

Song Qingyan also smiled, but his smile was not as flamboyant as it was in his youth, nor as wild as it was on the battlefield. Instead, it was the kind of gentle, jade-like smile that comes from having experienced countless trials.

Zhao Shi and Song Wanzhen, who were not far away, suddenly felt like crying, and their eyes turned red.

"Mother, once we get to Lingnan, I should be able to become an aunt very soon, right?"

Zhao rolled her eyes.

"Jin Ning is older than you, but look at her health, she looks like she's a few years younger than you. Things are getting better now, and once things settle down there, we'll focus on helping her recover. And your brother, he suffered such a serious injury, even if a woman can get pregnant, the child will be weak. We don't want Jin Ning to suffer any more..."

"Ah, isn't childbirth more related to women?"

"Who says so? Of course, men are more important. Look at those frail-looking ones, their fathers must be in poor health..."

The mother and daughter's conversation veered further and further off track, and their voices grew louder and louder, attracting the attention of several escorts, including Chen Hui. They all listened intently, and the more they listened, the more they found the argument to be true.

The two people not far away heard the mother and daughter's conversation and blushed to the roots of their necks with embarrassment.

"Hiss..."

The commotion in the bushes caught their attention.

A boy's face emerged from the waist-high grass.

His eyes were sunken, his complexion was sallow, and his face was thin. He was swallowing hard as he looked at the steamed bun that Jiang Jinning had just taken out of the bag.

This is a young master who is about ten years old, or perhaps a little older.

If you get closer, you'll see that the child's clothes are tattered, even more worn than the prison uniforms they wore back then, barely covering their vital parts.

He also carried a strange smell, like rotting flesh. Jiang Jinning noticed that the boy's arm was roughly wrapped in coarse cloth, and blood seeped through the cloth, as if he was injured.

She looked around. Zheng Qian and Sun Quan were far away. After Yuan Er died, most of his fans went with Sun Quan. This area was full of Chen Hui's people.

Jiang Jinning walked forward boldly.

"Ning'er..."

Song Qingyan's eyes were full of disapproval.

"He's different from all of them."

The boy was different from the village chief and the other villagers. Those people always had a fishy smell on them, which was very unpleasant, but this boy did not.

Jiang Jinning came to the boy's side, squatted down, and handed him the steamed bun.

The boy's eyes lit up with surprise, and he immediately reached out and pressed his hand on the steamed bun, but then abruptly pulled it back, looking at her warily.

"Eat up, the steamed buns are clean."

Jiang Jinning assumed the boy was worried the steamed bun was poisoned; after all, it was something from a stranger, so some caution was normal.

The young boy still didn't take it, but instead said something nonsensical.

"I'm too skinny to eat anything, can I still eat steamed buns?"

"What?"

Jiang Jinning was completely baffled. She looked at Song Qingyan, who was not far away, hoping to find the answer in his eyes, but she only saw his face suddenly change and become ugly.

Jiang Jinning didn't know what Song Qingyan was thinking, and now was not the time to ask, so she patiently comforted the young boy.

"Yes, you can eat it. If it's not enough, I have more."

Her small box was filled with dry food, just in case she needed to eat while traveling.

Jiang Jinning took out a few more steamed buns and pushed them in front of the young boy.

The young boy stared at her intently, finding her smile sweet, and unconsciously reached out to take the steamed bun.

Just as Jiang Jinning was about to ask him if his family lived in the village, the young boy disappeared through the bushes in an instant.

"Running so fast, and you haven't even changed the dressing on your injured arm yet..."

Jiang Jinning could only shake her head helplessly and turn to look at Song Qingyan beside her, only to find that his expression was getting more and more unpleasant.

"What's wrong? Did what that child said just now remind you of something?"

Song Qingyan lowered his voice and began to speak slowly and deliberately: "I don't know if I'm right, but I once heard my grandfather mention that the previous dynasty was corrupt, and during the famine years, there were corpses everywhere. The people had no food and eventually had to eat each other..."

Jiang Jinning's eyes widened suddenly, her mouth agape in astonishment. In a flash, she recalled the strange smells on everyone she had met in the village.

"You mean this village...?"

"pretty close."

"Then we'd better get out of here quickly!"

Song Qingyan remained silent.

It seems that Sun Quan intended to die here.

"Let Chen Hui try first; it would be best if he could leave."

With so many people around, Song Qingyan didn't have time to explain the truth, but Chen Hui had some vague guesses and soon arrived in front of Zheng Qian.

Zheng Qian was even more furious than before, and he was extremely annoyed by the group of people who were making exorbitant demands.

Sun Quan consistently tried to dissuade others, portraying himself as someone who was very empathetic.

"My lord, I know you are angry at these people's greed, but it's understandable. They had no other choice but to resort to this tactic. If only my hometown had met a kind-hearted lord like you back then..."

This combination of praise and sob story immediately calmed Zheng Qian down considerably.

"Never mind, it's just a few coins."